Mission to the Stars
by D-Money626
Summary: Man's first mission to another star experiences a dangerous attack by a force that can't be found by a villain that even the Doctor can't identify. This is 4th episode of a different Series 4 & part 1 of 2 parter. "In space nobody can hear you scream..."
1. Lonely

With three people living in a blue box known as the TARDIS it would surprise most people how lonely one could get in there. Sometimes its residents would say hello to one another or engage in small talk over a meal, but generally all three did there own thing. Anyone that has ever lived in a house with others too big for them can attest to that. It really was funny how little time its three passengers actually spent together when not directly before or after an adventure.

As Martha walked down one of the many corridors of the ship she couldn't help but think that this was one of those nights or possibly days. The TARDIS was timeless so she could never be sure which was which. Still, what was she doing again?

Oh yes, Martha was walking the corridors of the TARDIS rather mindlessly. The other two passengers aboard this ship were elsewhere and she wasn't sure where. The Doctor had mentioned something about just wanting to be alone and Rose was in the library reading.

That was the funny thing about Rose. Her newest friend had been somewhat mysterious since her return. Even the Doctor acted as if he did not know her anymore sometimes or would remark on how much she had changed. Maybe it was just a natural thing and a picture of Martha's own future from this life. However, if there was one thing that Rose was especially quiet about it, it was her life in the parallel world. She never mentioned it or what she had actually did there. It was either Rose didn't find it worth mentioning or she was hiding something. Whatever the case was, the experience had apparently changed her.

Their recent adventure had been a real eye opener for Martha. On one hand, she had saved the day all by herself. With the other, she had been openly passed over by the Doctor for Rose and been left in danger. Sure, the Doctor's hand was forced, but why Rose and not her? It still just didn't make any sense and she could not believe she has been asking the same damn question for the past few months. Perhaps, it was one of those timing issues Martha theorized.

Still, as lonely as it was sometimes living on the TARDIS she could always count on one thing. Within its walls she was safe. Martha was safe from responsibility, death, and even worrying somewhat. Life just moved at its own pace here and it just felt right. It felt special.

Martha reached the main console to see the Doctor with his head poked under the console tinkering, as he calls it. As much as she loved her adventures she had to admit that sometimes they could be scary. Lucky for her, there was an all knowing and handsome Time Lord that took her on these journeys outside. The TARDIS could be lonely, but it was safe inside. Outside anything can and usually did happen. Outside was the great beyond and it made Martha smile with what she'd find out there next.


	2. Nothing at Nowhere

In the blackness of space a spaceship about the size of a large warehouse with the words 'S.S Centari' printed on its side propelled itself. Behind them shone a distant star that was slightly larger than a pin known to most as the Sun. Amidst a background of distant stars the only way to tell that the ship had even moved was the brief bits of fire coming from its engine trail. Other than that there was nothing near them for miles.

In its control room three men and a woman stared at a computer screen showcasing a video that was playing on it. On it a grey haired older man sat down in a chair in full business expression. "This is my last taped message to the crew of the S.S. Centari. Now that you've left Pluto you're out of the solar system and thus out of the range of our planetary satellites. The messages we can send takes a lot of energy and we want to conserve that for your live broadcast hopefully ten years from now to remember that you're going where no human has ever gone before. Writers of old would call it the madness or the sea of hell but if these are my last words to you I need to say this… There was a time when we thought the Earth was flat and sailing the Atlantic Ocean would be a journey that nobody could ever come back from. S.S. Centari, you are not only heroes, you're sailors. Until then good luck and I hope you find something out there!" He smiled at the crew and saluted them as the screen went blank.

The oldest man of the crew scoffed out loud, "We've been out of the solar system for a while now."

The woman shook her head. "Jules, how many times do I have to tell you? Pluto is a planet now."

He scoffed, "A planet? Hardly! Ever since scientists discovered Plubolium there we're all a sudden calling it a planet? It's just some glorified rock because nobody can have rights to a satellite!"

The youngest man of the crew laughed. "You and your conspiracy theories! I swear it's not like it's the first time Pluto has changed its status."

"That may be true but when I studied at the academy Pluto was a moon of Neptune. Nothing can change that for me."

The third man wearing a special insignia saying, 'Captain Andrews' coughed. "Well, Lieutenant Mikes is correct. That's how it was taught in my school days as well but whatever the bickering may be about we need to go with whatever the classifications are for mission control back home. If we got into a war about the classification of each of the disputed objects that we will run into we will never discover anything. No matter what you've been taught we must remain on the same page. Is this clear?"

The other three astronauts echoed a strained, "Yes."

"Good."

A few seconds of awkward silence followed before there was a loud clanging below them with a slight shaking of the ship. The woman asked, "What was that?"

The youngest waved her off like she had been crazy. "Likely the trash compactor recalibrating. Probably nothing."

"I know that Martin. Did you really think that I thought it would be anything else?"

Jules laughed to himself. "Yeah."

"Oh piss off."

Martin decided to walk over to the woman and laid his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. As she turned around he told her, "Look, Veronica there's no need to worry. Now you know I'd love for something to be out there but there's nothing. We're in for a very long and boring ride."

Jules was rather enjoying himself pressing the younger woman's buttons. "Course, if something happens. You know what they say. In space no one can hear you screa…"

Jules suddenly was cut off as the outside of the ship had been met with a loud bang shaking the ship violently.

Captain Andrews demanded, "Status report! What just hit us?"

Veronica was already busy typing in controls into her computer. "It was the engine room sir. Walls are still intact but they are badly damaged from the impact."

"Jules go check it out!" Jules saluted Captain Andrews and left the room. "Martin bring up the screen!"

A large movie theater type of screen lowered and turned on to show the pictures being picked up from the space around them. What they saw shocked the entire crew. "Sir, there's… nothing…"

"An asteroid, meteor, piece of rock, anything at all?"

"Nothing."

Jules voice came over the speakers. "Captain you won't believe what I just found down here."

"Copy that Jules. What do you have?"

"Asteroid. It's shaped, almost sculpted and it shot into the ship. I'm staring right at its tip protruding out of the wall."

Veronica commented, "I was watching scans. We would have found it within a 500 mile radius, but it appeared out of nowhere."

Martin yelled in disbelief, "Another object just appeared out of nowhere only 100 miles from us and it's heading straight for us!"

Captain Andrews ran to the flight controls staring at the view screen in horror. As the meteor sped toward the ship it became larger and larger in the screen. The Captain moved a joystick around and was barely able to steer the ship so the trajectory was missed. The offending trajectory whizzed past the ship speeding off in a straight direction.

Jules voice was on the radio again, "It's beeping! I'm going to get…" His voice all a sudden was distorted and the radios began to pick up a low menacing growling noise through the radios.

Martin yelled in disbelief, "What the hell!"

Veronica called out, "Another one. 75 miles away!"

Captain Andrews could not believe what he was saying as he yelled, "We're under attack!"

A large explosion from somewhere in the ship making the ground shake underneath the three frantically working.

The Captain was steering with all his might to miss the next trajectory beginning to fill up the large screen while Veronica muttered, "Engine room!"

Martin yelled out into the intercom over the growing, "Jules do you copy? Jules?"

The asteroid looked like it was about to make a direct impact as Captain Andrews fought hard with the controls to avoid it…


	3. Face to Face

Martin ran down the halls, desperately calling out, "Jules!"

As he neared the engineering room, he threw open the door and ran headfirst into a male body wearing pinstripes. Martin backed away in complete shock as the object of his shock thrust out his hand. "Hello, I'm the Doctor!"

Martin backed away at first, muttering in disbelief, "You're human…"

The Doctor was rather disgusted. "I am most certainly not, but my two friends are. See those two sealing off the wall behind me. Rose and Martha, Rose, is the blonde one." Both women took the moment to wave briefly before finishing sealing off the wall with Martha holding the sonic screwdriver and Rose holding the wall into place for her.

Martin was on guard from this mystery person that had just shown up. "Why did you attack our ship? We've done nothing wrong to you."

The Doctor was flabbergasted. "Attack? Who? Me? Honestly, we just saw a hole and flew through. See, we made quick handiwork before you came. Most of this was wide open. It's quite the health hazard." He pointed at the wall.

"What?"

Martha had just finished when she had put the screwdriver in her pants. The women both got up and approached the conversation. Rose smiled. "Does that all the time. Never does makes sense, does he?"

Martin nodded. "I'm Martin, by the way. Martin Sells, Culture Expert."

The Doctor regarded Martin accusingly. "Tell me Martin Sells, Culture Expert, who have you pissed off out here?"

"Nobody. We're just traveling through."

Martha questioned him. "Are you sure you haven't ran into something, but thought it was inanimate so you overlooked it?"

"What? No, of course not! Until a couple of hours ago, we had gone a couple of days not even encountering anything. We just got attacked out of the blue! They shot at us, whoever they are. How did you even wind up here?"

The Doctor was hiding some information and Martin could tell. "Well, that's a funny story actually. We're actually rather lost right now. I mean you earthlings have noticed an alien or two in your day, right? Well, that's the thing. Got lost returning from Earth with my companions here. Hope that's all right with you. Nothing funny going on. Just traveling. Same as you, right?"

Martin wasn't sure if this Doctor and his companions was connected to whatever was happening, but whatever it was, he had to know where his associate was. "If you're so harmless, where's Jules?"

An older male voice came from around the corner. "Martin!"

"Jules!" The two reunited by hugging intimately.

"What happened?"

"I noticed that the projectile was beeping and the beeps were coming closer together so I got out of there fast as I could. Soon as I closed the door there was a huge explosion in there."

Rose commented, "And you can thank us for fixing that for you. Was a lot more work than I thought it'd be and just a tad bit more dangerous. Really, though, I could have slipped, Doctor." She grabbed the Doctor's shoulder and looked at him to emphasize.

Jules was not as afraid as Martin had been, but was genuinely confused. "Sorry, Martin, when did we have three strangers arrive on board?"

"Yeah, well that's the thing. I'll let them tell you themselves."

The Doctor was more than eager as he reached out his hand to which Jules shook. "The Doctor, pleased to meet you, Jules. Martha and Rose, Martha's the black haired one." As before both companions raised their hands to wave at him.

Jules looked at them like this really didn't make any sense while introducing himself. "Jules Mikes, technician."

Martha added, "Let me catch you up. He's an alien that decided to check out your hole and fix it and we're his two humans that travel with him from Earth. But, more importantly, we're harmless."

Jules looked like he had no idea how to even respond while an air of curiosity came across Martin. "So you two are human and you travel with an alien. Actually, that's kind of interesting."

Jules shook his head. "What's more interesting is not that whether you're an alien or not, it's that you're interfering with a high priority mission."

The Doctor was intrigued. "Oh! Where are you beautiful humans going to this time!"

Martin smiled being happy to share. "First mission of our species to another star."

The Doctor seemed to ponder that for a second. "Right! Oh, I should have noticed the S.S. Centari on the outside. Rose, Martha, this is a very special voyage indeed for humanity!"

Jules eyed him suspiciously. "You seem to talk about all this as if it's past tense."

The Doctor threw up his shoulders and offered, "Different verb tenses for different strokes?"

Rose nudged him. "It's folks."

"Right, different folks for different strokes, but see I was clever and I made my folks my verb tenses."

Nobody seemed to understand what the Doctor was even trying to say, so a couple seconds of awkward silence fell before Martin spoke up. "This is actually half of our crew. Let me take you three to meet the other two. Just follow me."

Martin gestured for everyone to follow him, and they all walked across the corridor in a companionable silence until they arrived in the control room.


	4. The Growl of the Unknown

Martin, Jules, and the three time travelers walked into the control room of the spaceship. The noise of their feet was met in shock by the turning of the other two already in the room.

Veronica asked fearfully, "Martin, Jules, who are those people?"

The Doctor smiled. "I'm the Doctor. I'm an alien, and it's ok."

Jules gruffly added, "He is, although completely unhelpful. The two women are his human companions, Rose and Martha. Long story." Jules had pointed at the opposite woman when introducing them.

Rose was rather annoyed with that and pointed while saying, "You mean I'm Rose, and that's Martha."

The captain walked over to them regally. "Captain Sam Andrews, pleased to be making first contact. I assume you've met my two crew members with you. Allow me to introduce our fourth member sitting over there, Veronica Taylor, our other technician." Veronica waved a welcome hello at them. Jules and Martin gradually both moved over to their stations and sat down, getting to work as the conversation continued.

The Doctor happily added, "Seems you're missing a doctor, and good for you, Captain Sam Andrews, I just happen to be a brilliant one."

Martha decided to add, "Make that two. Or rather, one in training."

"Splendid, two doctors. Rose, what do you do?"

The thought made Rose think. She was many years from being a shop girl. In the parallel world, she had a job title, but now all she really did was tag along. Rose would like to think that she was the one being the adventurer or explorer, but it was the Doctor that was. She was just his companion and not a doctor like Martha. The thought was a little humiliating, but she put it behind her. "I'm a traveler. I travel."

Sam laughed, "Aren't we all! But, the pressing matter at hand, I'm afraid, is that we're in the middle of space and just experienced an attack."

The Doctor became intrigued. "What kind of an attack?"

Veronica added, "Why don't you ask our radios?" She pressed a button and then suddenly the room was full of a faint, chilling, growling noise from the speakers. "It's been a constant sound on the radio since we were hit."

Martha asked, "What is it, Doctor?"

"Some type of communication by something out there, but I can't seem to figure it out."

Jules had become annoyed at the Doctor's showcase of expertise. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but where in the world is this growl coming from?" He pressed a few buttons on his computer in front of him and an image of the space around them was shown on the large screen still hanging from before. "There's nothing there! How can something be communicating if it doesn't exist. How?"

The Doctor was strangely silent as he realized even he didn't have an answer for that and that fact alone seemed to raise the fear of everyone in the room. Something was out there but it was nowhere to be found. Nobody knew what was out there while its sounds continued to reverberate through the room.

Suddenly there was a loud clang on the floor and just about everyone in the room jumped in fear. Martha yelled in annoyance, "Turn that noise off!"

Veronica gratefully pressed a button, and true silence fell in the room as everyone stared, not comprehending their situation while trying to figure it all out.

The Doctor's hands were rubbing his neck roughly on the back of his head like it had lice while Rose grabbed his shoulder to calm him down. "Hey, we'll figure it out. We'll be alright." If she was honest, she was more trying to calm herself down, but she at least was able to give the Doctor a little confidence.

The Captain turned to face the rest of his crew. "Whatever is out there growling at us exists. I know we can't see it, but we are not dreaming this. We are not going crazy and none of us have been in contact with a drug since we left Earth. There is something out there and sooner we can recognize that, the sooner we can confront it. Can we do that?"

Martin offered, "Maybe whatever it is, is just trying to get our attention. Maybe it's hurt."

Jules argued, "I'm pretty sure it would not attack us like it did if it was hurt, but I'll admit that there's at least something out there. The proof has been flooding our radios for the past couple hours."

Rose's eyes glazed over as she commented, "Whatever it is, IT isn't done. I can tell you that."

Veronica offered, "Perhaps we should…" She suddenly stopped as she stared at her screen, screaming, "25 miles away! Incoming!"

The Captain ran over to the controls to steer hoping he could pull a miracle as everyone stared at the sudden appearance of a giant asteroid hurtling toward the ship.

The Doctor muttered, "What are you?"

Captain Andrews madly tried to steer the ship, but could not dodge it as it struck the ship violently. Everyone that was standing fell, and those in chairs barely held on as the lights all turned off. To make matters worse, the radio was off but the growling began again with a source coming from outside the vessel…


	5. The Settling Dust

When the shaking stopped the chilling growling continued. The calm and collected Captain Sam Andrews had had enough! To anybody that was listening he yelled, "I'm sick of this! Show yourself immediately!"

Unfortunately, his demands fell on deaf ears as everyone tried to get up from their recent falls. After a couple eternal seconds of fear between the crew members, the lights flickered back on and the growling ceased.

A silence fell over the crew as each explained to themselves the recent happenings in their own way.

Rose suddenly was hit with a memory. "That growling just seems a bit… mad. There was that one time that I…" She trailed off as she looked at the Doctor and stopped before continuing, "Perhaps it is hostile, but the tone is like someone insane."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. Rose had kept a previous memory from the time they were separated from him. In fact, she had not said anything about that time since leaving that universe with him, especially about what she had experienced while there. Still, there was too much going on to ask about her past at the moment. "Well, you lot try living out here way out from the sun; it'd drive you mad trying to stay warm – it's way below freezing in these parts."

Jules added, "I read a couple of the accounts in my life from the explorers that sailed before 1600. The most chilling writings are the ones from in between journey's. Perhaps, they went senile and saw things that weren't there. They saw things they didn't understand."

The Doctor grinned widely at Jules. "I always love these parts where you humans really just get it. All the life I've lived and you'd think just once I'd yawn, that I'd know all there is to know. Nope! There's just always this little speck in everything. Just this little tiny unknown thing and you know what? It's brilliant!"

The Doctor's speech seemed to raise the spirits of everyone in the room. Yes, whatever this entity was scared the crap out of them but the crew of the S.S. Centari had signed up because they dreamed and wondered much like the three time travelers that craved their adventure.

Captain Andrews spoke up having gained enough composure to take command again. "Let's see what we can do here… what we can discover. Veronica, I want you to check for damages from our impact on the scans. Jules, try to run the growls through any code breaking programs you can find on our systems. Martin, please take this Doctor and his friends to get a closer look at it."

All three crew members saluted the Captain and got to their duties. As Martin left with the time travelers Veronica noted, "I'd check the habitation room if I was you."

Martin raised his finger as he walked away. "Habitation room it is."

As the four approached the habitation room Martin opened the door saying, "Habitation room, here we are."

Inside the room sat some computers that had wires hooking up to oval shaped objects that could fit a human lying in them easily. Martha remarked curiously, "They're pods."

Martin smiled at that. "Yeah, our beds are equipped with timers and a sleeping gas that gives way to a dry ice freezing agent. In the middle of our trip, once we get out of the Kuiper Belt, we'll use them for days at a time so we don't run into the problem of running out of food."

Rose asked, "How long do you think you'll be out here traveling?"

"Could be three years, ten, or even more. Try not to think about it because there's too much unknown, ya know? Can't exactly find anything different here. What about you lot?"

The Doctor was looking carefully as he pushed one of the pods out of his way. In front of him sat a tiny jagged part sticking through the wall that had a blue light blinking on it. He motioned to everyone to join him, which they did. "Oh, that is a beautiful piece of machinery there. Still can't let it do what it was intended to do."

Martha prompted, "And that is?"

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver pointing it at the blinking light and turned it on. "A disabling bomb."

Martin nodded in understanding. "So these aliens… They seem extra set in overtaking our ship by dismantling our defenses first instead of just destroying us. Why?"

Rose added, "It's like they need you lot for something."

All of a sudden the Captain could be heard on the loudspeaker. "Come to the control room immediately! I need the aliens' expertise!"

All four ran back to the control room. Something big was waiting for them there and they could did not know what to expect. Fear coursed through their veins as the four of them bolted through the corridors.

Martha threw the door open into the control room, but it's what she and the others heard that proved everyone's worst fears right.

A female computerized voice resounded from the speakers. "Sur-ren-der-your-ship-to-us. Sur-ren-der-or-die. We-are-the-Ice-Pi-rates. Sur-ren-der…"


	6. First Contact

Everyone listened to the computer translate the message from the previously unintelligible growls that had overridden the com network. "Sur-ren-der-your-ship-to-us. Sur-ren-der-or-die. We-are-the-Ice-Pi-rates. Sur-ren-der…" Veronica turned it off as it started to repeat its sequence.

The Doctor smacked his head hardly. "Ice Pirates! Yes! The invisibility, the distinctive growling, the technology on that bomb! I can't believe how thick I am!"

Martha asked, "Who are they, Doctor?"

The Doctor replayed a chilling memory in his head. "The Ice Pirates are a race that roams between solar systems of what you lot call the Milky Way, pillaging and killing the crew of any ship that passes by for its riches."

Sam was confused. "But, we haven't got any riches here. What would it want with us?"

"They don't know that, and if you told them they'd only think you were lying."

Jules again did not trust the Doctor and went on the offensive. "How do you know who they are? Are you a spy for them?"

The Doctor held out his hands above his head in mock surrender as most of the crew's body language seemed to agree with Jules. "Alright, alright… I haven't been that truthful. I didn't just land here and check you out because you had a hole in your ship. The real reason is your computer sent out an obligatory stress call after the impact and to my knowledge of time; you were not yet supposed to encounter them."

Martin's mind was blown. "Time travel? What sort of species of alien are you, Doctor?"

"Time Lord."

Sam mentioned, "Never heard of it."

The Doctor smiled mysteriously. "There's reasons for that."

Veronica became curious. "So you travel in time. What happens to us then?" As the Doctor stared at her with words on his mind, but not being spoken, she became scared. "Rose? Martha? Do we make it out of this alive?"

Rose who was closer to her sensed she needed a hug and did so. "Hey, look, I'd love to tell you, honestly I would, but that's not the way it works. I don't even know if I will survive, but I'm ok with that. Always gotta have hope. I like hope. Hope's a good emotion." She winked at the Doctor hoping that he had caught her quoting of him.

He did. "She's right! A brilliant man once said that. How about we use a little bit of that; hope."

Martin repeated him, "Hope. Is there anyway we can communicate with them through the program?"

Veronica played with some buttons before commenting, "It'll work as old Morse Code."

"It's as good enough as anything else we could do."

Jules commented, "We'd be wasting our time!"

Martha suggested, "If you can talk to them I suggest we do so."

Martin asked Sam, "Can I take lead?" The Captain nodded. Veronica sat ready to tap in the words as Martin began. "Try this. Hello can you hear us? We are humans from the planet Earth exploring, but we don't mean you any trouble. Can there be peace between us?"

There was no response as spirits died in the room. Captain Andrews proposed to the room, "What else could we do?"

The Doctor smiled convincingly. "Try it again."

Martin spoke up again, "Veronica tell them this." Veronica put in the code while he continued. "Hello. We are humans from Earth. We mean you no trouble. Can there be peace between us?"

Again there was no response as Jules shook his head in disgust about to say something, but was cut off as the computer rumbled. "There-is-no-peace. Sur-ren-der-or-die."

"What happens if we surrender?"

"If-you-sur-ren-der-we-will-board-your-ship-take-all-of-your-pos-sess-ions-find-your-plan-et-Earth-and-take-one-tenth-of-your-re-sour-ces-but-we-will-spare-your-lives"

Captain Andrews spoke up, "Veronica tell them there is no deal!" Veronica punched it in.

"Mes-sage-re-ceived."

Before anyone could say anything the communication unit was turned back on without anyone pressing a button while the deep growling grew in loudness. The ship physically shook and everyone tried to hold on.

Immediately after the communication units turned off again, Veronica worked frantically to get another update on the ship.

Jules stared at his computer with a wide disbelief. "Captain, two body signatures have just been recognized in the recycle room. They're on the ship and they're moving in our direction!"

An air of disbelief and fear for their lives passed through everyone in the control room as two blue blinking lights showed themselves on the computers virtual map heading their way...


	7. Invasion in Deep Space

Spirits were low in the control room and everyone watched the computer's virtual map with dread. The two blue dots that they saw represented the two life forms that had just boarded without their consent. Captain Sam Andrews knew that he had to take command of his ship before these invaders ended any chance of that. With determination he instructed, "Right, Jules, you're our best fighter, Martin, you provide some backup for him. Rest of us, we'll hold down the control room."

Jules walked over to the wall and pressed a button. A portion of the wall shot out toward him with an assortment of firearms to choose from. He took one, caulked it, and threw one to Martin. Martin almost dropped it embarrassingly, but was able to hold on. Jules than threw one to Sam and Veronica who both thanked him as they caught it. "Doctor, Rose, Martha?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No guns for us, thanks."

Rose tentatively said, "Actually…"

The Doctor looked at her sternly. "No guns for us. Thanks!"

Rose argued, "Doctor, look, we need a last resort." The Doctor just shook his head disapprovingly saying nothing. "Fine, I understand. Just am worried is all."

Jules just shook his head in complete disgust as he pushed the gun stash back into the wall. "Stupid, stupid decision."

Martha saw the Doctor needed a little defending as Rose looked a little bashful from challenging the Doctor's no guns policy. "We don't need guns, Jules. Never did and never will. Besides, I don't even know how."

Even Martin, who was struggling to even caulk his gun, frowned on them. "If you guys get us killed that's on you. Me, I'll take whatever precaution necessary even for backup like Rose was suggesting."

The Doctor thought for a minute thinking that that must have been the Torchwood influence as he glanced at Rose. His Rose would have never suggested that. Still, Rose was Rose. Wasn't she?

Jules made his way to the exit while Martin followed only to be stopped by Veronica. She gave him a passionate hug which he returned. "Martin, if this is it. I just wanted to say that I… I've always really enjoyed your company."

"Thanks, love."

They broke their hug while she watched Martin leave the room with Jules.

Jules and Martin walked through the ship normally until they began to approach the recycle room. The more experienced Jules took charge and laid a hand on Martin's shoulder. "They're in their Martin. No idea what they look like, but we have to consider them armed and dangerous. Just cover me and we'll be alright. I trust you."

Martin simply nodded as Jules removed his hand and made a precautionary move into the room quickly behind some boxes. It was dark in the recycling room and they couldn't risk making the effort to turn on the lights. Even though they could not see it, a machine sat in its center with boxes and boxes of either recycled materials or ones that they needed to do so to. It was quiet, almost too quiet, and they knew they weren't alone. The two offending Ice Pirates in there were waiting for them to make a move and it chilled Jules and Martin to the bone.

Martin stood back ready to shoot should an Ice Pirate emerge and attack his associate Jules. Even though Jules could be a bit of a jerk sometimes, Martin held a wealth of respect for him. He had very little experience with guns and actually didn't like them, but for Jules he'd push that all aside.

Jules carefully made a move to get behind another set of boxes as he motioned for Martin to hold his position. He checked in a hole between two of them and still found nothing.

Just as he was about to make another move he heard a small clang behind the recycling machine. The room was so dark that it seemed to echo around him. Jules knew that this would be the perfect opportunity for a sneak attack. He motioned for Martin to hold his position and pointed where the noise had originated.

Martin crept forward to position himself safely behind some other boxes but in clear range of Jules destination. The older man crept towards the machine and looked over it slowly.

There was no figure there. Instead a small yellow light was blinking on a round object not even the size of his foot. It was a diversion!

Jules stood straight as he felt a gun trained on his head. His heart started to beat more and more as he could not see his aggressor, but could feel its gun.

Martin witnessed the figure of Jules stand up suddenly along with another figure that must be the Ice Pirate. He trained his gun at the figure ready to fire. He thought about negotiating with the alien, but then remembered that there was yet another one and they couldn't understand each other regardless. He had to be quick and he had to be on target.

Bang! The supposed Ice Pirate fell to the ground and Jules' body leaned down to most likely check to see if it was really dead.

Martin then heard the most terrifying sound in the world as another gun was caulked behind him. There was no pause this time. Bang! Martin fell to the floor.

Jules' had noticed that the other Ice Pirate, that he could only see the outline of, appeared motionless, and when he had checked for some type of pulse, dead. The shot that killed his partner, Martin, had shocked him with his focus now on a new assailant.

Jules sat up and turned his eyes away from the dead body to search the room from behind the boxes for the other one.

Bang! Jules fell to the ground dead as the supposed dead Ice Pirate behind him had pulled out the bullet from its flesh on its neck growling its familiar sound.

Back in the control room Sam noticed the life signs on the computer representing Jules and Martin as red dots. Suddenly the dots blinked and disappeared. The Captain's face fell hard as he turned his head to everyone else in the room. "We've lost them. Both Jules and Martin are gone…"

Veronica began to cry as Martha asked hopefully, "And the Ice Pirates?"

Sam took a closer look at the computer. Even though one of them had blinked and disappeared for a couple minutes, he stared dumbfounded as both remained. "Negative. They are still moving towards us."

The Doctor could not believe it. He was familiar with the Ice Pirates but it just did not seem even possible that they could have dispatched two men that quickly. The thought actually frightened him. "Two men dead just like that? Ohhhh, they've changed since I last saw them."

Captain Andrews could not believe it as he looked again on the computer. A third blue dot suddenly appeared on the screen as he commented, "A third."

Growling seemed to surround them. The invaders were communicating and were doing so fast that the computer could not comprehend them quick enough.

As the figures moved on the screen everyone's attention turned toward the large viewing screen showing the space outside. Rose commented chillingly, "And it's about to get worse…"

It looked like a giant asteroid right above them, but it was blinking like an electronic button. It was the Ice Pirate's ship no doubt. Martha's mouth was wide open. "Oh, my God."

The computer had an incoming message which made Veronica push a button to turn it on. "I-gave-you-a chance-Now-you-will-die" Sam, Veronica, the Doctor, Martha, and Rose looked on in complete disbelief with a sense of foreboding of what was soon coming for them…


	8. Next Time Trailer

Next Time on Doctor Who...

Captain Andrews announces to everyone in the room, "Alright team, mankind is not falling to the Ice Pirates! Not on my watch!"

The Doctor hears the Captain's voice as he runs saying, "You guys got an Ice Pirate heading your way."

Two beeps sound signaling a door opening. Martha watches the opening seeing a shadow on the other side.

Rose mutters to herself chillingly in pitch darkness, "I know you're here."

The Doctor comments to Rose, "Only one thing we can do."

"What's that?"

"Run!"

A whitish gray arm springs through the door and Martha jumps back in complete fear.

The Doctor grabs Rose and thrusts her down with him as the bullets whiz by over their heads.

The Captain's voice sounds, "Just try to hold them off the best you can."

Rose removes her hand from her chest as she hisses from a deep pain.

The Doctor holds a communicator next to his mouth. "If something should happen to me, tell Martha that I…"

Martha and Veronica listen to the Captain's voice, "It's… it's the Doctor. I cannot even believe it but we've lost their life signs."

Martha's face falls hard and she begins to cry.

Rose's body is grabbed and pulled into the dark. She screams before becoming muffled.

Martha shouts, "No more deaths! You hear me Ice Pirates! No more deaths!"

A chilling growling follows as all sounds give way to a static…

Series 4 will continue with part two to this two parter, "Overboard" next week!


End file.
